“Blaming the process is a mainstay of the budget debate in Washington, D.C. Congress typically proposes to do something about the budget process when it can’t or won’t do anything about spending and revenues. This has been observed so often over the years that it’s now a basic fact of life among budget insiders. So it’s not at all surprising that, given Congress’ continuing inability to agree on the deficit reduction proposal so many say is needed, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) last week pushed his committee to approve legislation that would change the budget process.” – Stan Collender [Roll Call, 1/31/12]

Instead of focusing on job creation or taking meaningful action on the deficit, House Republicans are considering partisan bills that change the longstanding rules about how the CBO does its work this week. These bills will not make the budget process more efficient and won’t do anything to bring down the deficit.

The bill ignores the impact of inflation and population growth on the federal budget, which gives an unrealistic picture of what it will take to maintain basic services.

The Pro-Growth Budgeting Act is the latest attempt in Republicans’ decades-long crusade to enshrine discredited supply-side economics into our budget:

The bill applies supply-side economics to CBO scoring, which has been discredited time and time again and has no place in the non-partisan analysis provided to Congress.

It requires the CBO to use “dynamic scoring” when preparing cost estimates for major legislation, which understates the impact of tax cuts on the deficit and makes it easier to enact unpaid-for tax cuts.

The bill makes our deficit problem worse and is no substitute for a big, bold and balanced plan that asks all Americans to contribute their fair share.

Instead of wasting time on partisan process bills, we should be working on a big, balanced plan so that we can reduce the deficit, create jobs, strengthen entitlements, and ensure all Americans pay their fair share.